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Friday, June 14, 2013

Here at Firelight Media Group we look to tell you about what is happening either in the business of digital media or what we can share with you about the people we meet in our daily lives. Well, today we are going to talk about Firelight Media Group.

Firelight Media gets to shout from the mountain top, "We are all Emmy® Award Winners." That is right, Community Auditions “Star of the Day” won for “Audio”. With this win it makes William Sarris, Steve Kline, Tom Victor, Nick DeBeauvernet and Byron Campbell winners with the hard work they all put into the show. Congratulations goes to Bob Conover too for winning again for Director - Live to Tape.

To add some fun, please tell us what Will, Tom and Byron are imitating with their Emmy® Award. Here is a clue, acceptance speeches, singer and sports. Have fun with the captions too.

Firelight Media Group was honored to have an article written on them for the website RFPalooza.com. You can check out the article on Firelight Media here. Please visit RFPalooza.com and take a look at all of the RFPs they collect around the country, there are some just for you to grow your business. It is a great resource for those in the Advertising, full service production business.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Firelight Media has been a long-time supporter of FIRST Robotitcs (www.usfirst.org); Through 13 years of mentoring students on Team 230 at Shelton H.S. (www.shsrobotics.org), 10 years of providing a global webcast of the New England Regional Event, and 3 years of helping a new team at Harding H.S. in Bridgeport.

The fruit of this effort has been gratifying to say the least. Team Alumni have gone on to careers at NASA, Boeing, Sikorsky, Facebook, and even here at Firelight Media. Yes, current employee Tom Victor and college intern Thomas Keegan are not only Shelton Robotics Alumni, but for the last few years they have also become mentors, helping Firelight Media’s co-owner Steve Kline, and the other Team 230 mentors.

Not only has this effort provided excellent college and employment opportunities for team alumni, but it

has also provided once in a life time opportunities for the current students as well. Our team mentored last year’s “Global Innovation Award” winner from Shelton Middle School’s FIRST Lego League team, for its Patent Pending new product design. The “Smart Sticker” is currently in development with Edison Nation. Another alumnus had her high school science project blasted into space on one of the last space shuttle missions.

This year Team 230 is celebrating its 15th Anniversary in FIRST as it competes in “Ultimate Accent,” a play on the game “Ultimate Frisbee” as shooting Frisbees is one of the tasks the robots perform this year. And shoot Frisbees it does well, the team made it to the semi-finals in New Hampshire and made it to a high scoring finals match in Hartford earlier this month.

Robot performance is only one aspect to an award winning team. Teams also compete for Quality in Design, Design Innovation, Engineering Inspiration, and the Chairman’s Awards. This year, Shelton Robotics pulled in the CT Regional Chairman’s Award which qualifies them to compete for FIRST Robotics’ top prize, the National Chairman’s Award.

This year’s National Competition is in St Louis MS, beginning April 25, 2013. The team is looking to raise money to defray the costs of the competition entry fee as well as the hotel and travel for students and team mentors as they compete against the best and brightest in the nation. If you can help the team with a donation, small or large, please contact John Niski at JNISKI@sheltonpublicschools.org –or- Steve Kline at steve.kline@firelightmedia.net. Thank you for your consideration.

Monday, February 11, 2013

We had the great honor of working along side the best in the industry on a special night in January.

In December, right before Christmas, I received an email and a Facebook private message. The message said “there is going to be this night of hope and healing in the midst of the Sandy Hook tragedy at the Webster Bank Arena.” It was 8am on a Saturday. I contacted the promoter and within a few minutes received an email back from him. The promoter was going to need help getting coverage of the event, and getting the word out to the public. Within 2 hours I had radio stations, TV stations, Cable stations and more waiting for more information to blast out to their audience.

You might be saying, “that’s not too uncommon”. Well, this is the uncommon part. All of this was free. The promoter was not charging anything, the arena was free, the artists were free, audio, lights, video... all free. It is hard to believe that this was pulled off without any money exchanging hands and within 3.5 weeks! Oh yeah, and then we added broadcasting a live webcast of the event 5 days before the night!

This was an amazing feat to pull off in that time-frame, especially with the Christmas holiday occurring in the middle of the planning for the night.

As soon as I knew what was needed, I sent out an email and posted a message to Facebook for video production help. Within 2 hours I had 19 people ready to go with whatever we needed done, and an equipment rental company at the ready. The crew that I had that evening was an A Plus crew with more years experience in the business then I think I can count. We had no live run throughs, only line checks with the artists. I kept wondering, how is this night going to go off?

The production manager, after reviewing what happened on January 15, sent me this note. “As I sit on the bus riding back, contemplating what I was allowed to be part of last night, it is still difficult to comprehend the magnitude of it all. The fact that God spoke to the promoter's heart about the vision and moved him to action that challenged so many to join with him for this outreach... That in less than 4 weeks all of the pieces fell smoothly into place (the artists & speakers, the venue, the gear, the techs, the trucks & bus... and even during the day we got word that Pilot Truck stops was even going to cover the fuel for the production trucks and bus). Then the show... Very complex lasting all most 4 straight hours... with no rehearsal or even a walk through, went flawlessly,and was experienced by 10,000 in the building and an untold number (exact metrics to come) on the live stream.

Granted, we had an "A" level production team, great equipment, and outstanding artists & speakers... there is no way this was done by the hand of man. It was so obvious that from start to finish, this was only the work of the Creator God of the Universe. All praise and honor belongs too Him!”

Here are the final viewing numbers for the webcast of A Night of Hope and Healing according to our web analytics: over 64,000 distinct IP addresses were tuned in. We know that many churches used this as a bible study 'viewing' and many churches had gatherings of well over 150-200. That would mean nearly 1.3 million people shared this night with us! 40 countries had more than 10+ IP addresses. More than 6,000 cities were represented, as well as 6 continents (sorry no Antarctica!). Truly a world wide mission ---Praise God!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

If you follow Firelight on Facebook or Twitter, you no doubt have heard about "Firelight on the move".

Last week Firelight had two crews out shooting for different clients, in different states. And neither was within driving distance!
Crew one was me! Here I am in sunny south Florida. Miami to be exact.

I met up with a great lighting guy there, Brian Earl. We were shooting a video for the Wireless History Foundation, which is honoring 4 men for their contributions to the wireless industry. The Miami shoot was an interview with Raj and Neera Singh. Raj is being honored for maximizing network efficiency in early analog cell phone systems and advising the industry in the transition to more efficient digital networks.

Both he and is wife were fascinating. We interviewed them in their Miami home, and even got to go out on the golf course with them (both are avid golfers). Brian then took me down to South Beach and we got some b-roll of the local flavor. We tried not to have any fun, which was hard because, let's face it... we were in Miami Beach!

Lest you think this was all fun and games, let me remind you that Miami at this time of year is about as hot as the surface of the sun, and you can see the water suspended in the air it's so humid!

The second crew, made up of Byron and Tom, was in Richmond, VA and White Plains, NY shooting for another client. They had the most brutal schedule, driving to the airport at 3am, shooting all day, driving home after 11pm and getting up to drive to White Plains the next day. Needless to say, they were exhausted!

Both crews were stymied by the weather. My flight to Miami was delayed 3 hours, and the flight back was so delayed I got on another flight with a stop in Atlanta and still made it home before my original flight! Byron and Tom also were delayed several hours in VA, arriving only a half hour before me.

This week Steve has already been to PA to interview another wireless industry pioneer, and is off to Seattle to interview the final honoree on Thursday, after he runs a shoot for another client!

So that's the saga of Firelight on the move. Stay tuned to the Facebook and Twitter feeds to see more!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

I must say that the social media wave has hit and is here to stay. Just recently I received an email from Colleen Swan, a content writer for the web and other print mediums. Colleen mentioned that she created this blog that mentions Byron. "I hope you don't mind." I was like wow, someone wrote about me? So of course I read the article right away. After reading the article it made me realize that there is a lot more to marketing and sales then what meets the eye. In todays world of sales and marketing you have to be in social media, but as Colleen points out, what about the personal connection? Typing words on Facebook or Twitter then never seeing anyone face to face is not what Facebook had in mind. Read the article and let me know how we can have that personal connection. Colleen I feel hits on the missing element of social media. Leave a comment below or send one to us at www.facebook.com/firelightmediagroupllc.

Have you ever been to a speed-networking event? It’s where you get to pitch your business in 90 seconds, exchange business cards, and hope to score some clients. It’s the real-life version of what engaging in social media is all about – building relationships, only doing it face to face.

The keyword is “networking.” But, in a span of a few short years, the way we do that has profoundly changed how we interact with one another. The Internet and the innovation of ever-changing technology is giving us amazing tools for sharing information. It has quickly redefined what it means to be “social.” And it’s mind-blowing.

Do I Really Know You?

My favorite social media tool is Twitter. I admit it’s been fun building up my “Twitterverse” of interesting people to follow. In fact, their familiarity in my newsfeed makes me feel like I know them personally. Realistically, I don’t know most of them.

And in spite of all this social-media “connectedness,” I sense a feeling of isolation too. After all, it’s not like we’re all hanging out together at the local pub. We’re simply individuals busily spinning within the frenzy of our virtual worlds trying to get noticed.

Making Connections Real

Which brings me back to real-life connections and a speed-networking event I recently went to hosted by my local Chamber of Commerce. It was my first one, by the way, and it was intense.

There were about 70 people there. It was mathematically organized to give each of us 90 seconds to deliver our elevator speech to different tables of ten. It was kind of like playing the game “Musical Chairs. ” Since I’m not mathematical, I was impressed by its cleverness. And, in spite of the butterflies twittering around in my stomach in the hours leading up to the event, it turned out to be lots of fun.

The After-Networking Followup

A few days later, I got an e-mail from one of the attendees who wanted to meet with me to learn more about what I do. I thought, sure, maybe a new client.

I met Byron Campbell, co-owner of Firelight Media Group, a digital media agency, at a local Starbucks. I brought my portfolio. He gave me a business media kit and a nifty notepad and pen branded with the company logo. Old-time marketing tools, for sure. He’s been in business for over 25 years, after all. (Social media tools have been around for less than 10!)

As I filled him in on my business background and expertise as a content writer, he jotted down names of people he thought could use my services, which he later e-mailed to me.

All in all, we shared a delightful hourof conversation worth far more to me than a re-tweet on Twitter.

It turns out, his intention for the meeting was simply to make a personal connection with me and to maybe send some business my way. He was also expanding his sources for business leads. After all, if I get a client who needs content for a new Web site, that client may also be looking for help in putting together a product video. You never know. But I sure do hope I can pay it forward some day.

What resonated with me the most from meeting Byron was his effort to reach out. He shared the personal side of social. And it was great.

What about you? What are you doing to bring in more clients for your business? Comments welcomed.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Who needs video? If you are in a B2B or B2C business, which covers everyone, then

who needs video?

If we want our business to grow, we all need video. But how? I know, I can hear you all saying, “I don’t have any money” ,“ It is too expensive” or something like that. Do you know how important video is for your business today? Google does. In the business world video is huge. Google purchased YouTube.com and is integrating websites with video into their searches. If you haven’t noticed yet, sites with video and youtube videos are starting to show up higher and higher on organic searches.

People today don’t want to read a long email or manuals. The other day I went on youtube.com to find out about cutting a mango for my kids, I had never done this before. One of the first videos that showed up in an organic search was a 45 second video on how to cut and slice a mango. It was well done and easy to follow so I went into the kitchen and sliced the mango for my kids to eat.

“Ok,” I hear you saying, “that’s nice for your home use, but that is not going to help me with my business use.” I totally dissagree with you. Look at the popularity of videos now on the web. The two major sites are YouTube.com and Vimeo.com, but there are many others. Here at Firelight Media Group, some of our video projects we have been producing are shown only online. We noticed that our clients have been using YouTube and Vimeo a lot more in the last 12 months. In fact, we created our own channel on YouTube because of this trend. On YouTube.com we showcase projects that we have worked on, or show new products that our clients have.

Do you have a Droid or an iPhone? Can you take video with it? Both of these phone types have made it easy to post a video to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or other sites.

Here are a few reasons why you should use video to help promote your company, your products, or just to promote yourself as a leader in your industry.

1. YouTube is the second largest search engine on the planet!

2. Videos show up first in Google search results.

3. Videos can actually rank higher in a search than your website.

4. Videos stand out in the search results.

5. Videos keep people on your website longer.

YouTube is not about placing a funny video from your Uncle Bob on skate board attempting a rail slide. As I said before, it is now being used for instructions on how to do things, on how to become a coupon wizard, or to see who is a expert in a certain field. Video is really important for the success of your business or product. It is also important to show that you are an expert in your field. Video is one way to show your clients or customers that you are the best, plus it shows them how knowledgeable you are about your product. This way it sets you apart from your competition; something we all look for in our business.

With 86% of ALL U.S. internet users watching an online video in the month of July 2011, it would be wise for marketers and advertisers to take full advantage of the power of online videos. Let’s face it, watching video on the internet is a lot more fun and engaging then simply reading text, right? It would only stand to reason that you would want to incorporate online videos as part of your overall company marketing and sales strategies, especially when you look at the latest numbers for online video viewership from Comscore. You see a huge audience that has the potential of seeing your product. 32 Million people a month, over 1,200 viewers per minute. Where are you going to get that many potential customers with your current marketing materials?

Now that you want to do a video you probably have a few questions. What do you talk about? That is easy. Talk about your business. How are you the most popular, best dressed or the greatest service expert in your area? Do you have a tip of the day that can be related to your business? How do you get your A/R down? I am sure you can come up with multiple great topics that you can inform your customer base about.

Start thinking about these ideas and give us a call to help you create these videos. Here at Firelight Media Group we will consult with you to see if making these videos with your own laptop and video camera will hit your market, or if we can come up with a great video that fits into your budget to create a video that goes viral.

One more item to mention; embed your YouTube video on your website. Not only does it give people a reason to stay on your website longer, but it also helps to increase the total number of views for your videos. The more you promote your videos, the harder they will work to promote your company or yourself.

Friday, July 20, 2012

It’s July 20th, and the Firelight Media Group offices will be more or less closed after 3:00pm. More on why it is "more or less" later.

You see, the staff decided to take a research field trip to learn more about the latest lighting, visual effects styles, audio recording and video post techniques being used today. We also wanted to learn more about large format filming and production processes. These things are all integral to staying current in the video business.